A frequent problem attendant with pet ownership is the confinement of an unsupervised pet to a designated area such as the pet owner's yard. Without proper confinement, a pet may run free, thereby creating not only the potential for damaging neighboring property, but also the potential for endangering the animal itself.
While some pet owners have resorted to fences and other physical barriers to confine the animal, financial considerations often make physical barriers unacceptable. Depending on the type of fence selected, the cost of fence erection can frequently become cost prohibitive to some pet owners. Another problem is that fences and other physical barriers may be undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Often times a relatively inexpensive fence is not only ineffective at animal containment but is unsightly as well.
As an alternative to the use of fences or other physical barriers for pet confinement, electronic animal confinement systems are now being used. With a conventional electronic animal confinement system, a signal transmitter is connected to a wire loop antenna having sufficient length to surround a selected area in which a pet is to be confined, such as the pet owner's yard. The wire loop antenna may be laid directly on top of the ground or the antenna may be buried slightly below the surface of the ground. A relatively low frequency signal, typically in a sub-broadcast range of frequencies, is transmitted over the wire loop antenna.
In order to confine the animal within the designated area enclosed by the wire loop antenna, a signal receiver is attached to a collar on the animal. The signal receiver incorporates an electric shock generator which produces an electrical shock for transmission to the animal under predetermined conditions. Typically, when the animal moves within a selected distance of the wire loop antenna, the signal receiver on the animal collar responds to the signal being transmitted over the wire loop antenna and causes the electric shock generator to administer an electric shock to the animal. The electric shock produced by the electric shock generator is transmitted to the animal by a pair of electrodes affixed to the signal receiver in position to engage the animal.
For the purpose of restraining an animal that ignores the electric shock produced by the electrodes mounted on the signal receiver, remote electrodes have been affixed to the animal's collar to supplement the electrodes mounted on the signal receiver. A remote electrode is affixed onto the animal collar at a remote position from the signal receiver. A conductive wire is typically used to connect the remote electrode to a corresponding electrode on the signal receiver. A drawback with this type of conventional remote electrode arrangement is that the conductive wire used to interconnect the remote electrode with the electrode on the signal receiver exhibits a tendency to break, thereby disconnecting the remote electrode. An additional problem is that the remote electrodes affixed to the animal collar have a tendency to work free and fall out of the collar over time.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the problems with the conventional remote electrode arrangement, a steel insert plate has been employed to interconnect the remote electrode secured to the collar with a corresponding electrode on the signal receiver. Unfortunately, the steel inserts have not always been satisfactory either. The rigidity of the steel insert creates a tendency for inadvertent breakage caused by the back and forth bending of the steel insert during use. Steel inserts are particularly susceptible to problems when used with a relatively flexible collar.
In accordance with the present invention, a unique animal collar arrangement is provided in which remote electrodes are connected with corresponding electrodes on a signal receiver by a unique flexible wireless conductor. In addition, the remote electrodes are mounted on electrode casings which freely glide along the animal collar to reduce unnecessary stresses on the remote electrodes and the flexible connectors.